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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Montgomery County wants to increase your Rain Tax by 9.7%

Your rain tax may be about to increase. Bigly. Montgomery County continues to have an annual Water Quality Protection Charge, determined by the "total impervious area for each property." After the County's original, illegal rain tax was struck down by the courts in 2015, the Montgomery County political cartel simply figured out a legal workaround, and brought it back again.

County Executive Ike Leggett is recommending a whopping 9.7% increase in the Rain Tax, er, "Water Quality Protection Charge," for FY-2018. The County has already determined the amount of impervious surface on your property to determine your charge, by looking at an aerial photo. Very scientific.

You'll also pay higher property taxes this year, as rising assessments create an automatic tax increase even when the tax rate doesn't change. And the County Council gets another salary increase, just like Bell, California. The difference is, Bell's Council is in prison, and ours is still free and on-the-take.

"You know, if it was a rain tax, it would be based on how much it rains. You should stop calling it a 'rain tax'."

Anonymous @ 1:53 PM:

"Dyer and his ilk wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they didn't twist reality. He just did it twice in one post: the "rain tax" crap, plus complaining that property taxes are going up. In reality, the property tax RATE is going down for 2017-18; if an individual's property taxes are going up then it means their house has increased in value so much it more than offsets the lower tax rate. Robert, of course, tries to twist that into a bad thing."

6:09: More evidence you're a paid troll, when you post comments on one of my sites and then cut and paste it here.

You may be a lazy Guy Friday for the MoCo cartel, but you're also dead wrong.

People who aren't selling their house get no automatic cash payout from it being worth more, just another tax increase from the criminal County Council.

#LockThemUp

Rain tax is indeed just hitting up the taxpayer for something they obviously can't control - rain falling on their patio, driveway or swimming pool. Next they'll tax the wind. There's nothing these Bell California-wanna-bes won't tax, as they rake in $136000 salaries, and more illegal cash under the table from the MoCo cartel.

They voted to NOT raise their salaries this cycle. Keep current with the news.Their salaries are in line with others localities with similar demographics.Bell CA comparison is incorrect. I've fought long and hard with Dyer over this and he sticks to opinions as diligently as I stick to the facts.

Here's how property taxes work:Assessments are done every 3 yearsThis is a STATE function - not the countyThe increase is done in pieces (phased in) over 3 years

The county only sets the tax rates. The STATE is why you don't get hit with the full increased assessment amount at once.

7:44: Why are you talking about the next cycle of salary increases? They are still getting the annual hikes NOW from the last one, as I clearly stated. It tops out at over $136,000, over $36,000 MORE than the salaries of Bell, California Councilmembers, who are now behind bars for boosting their salaries while massively raising taxes.

BELL, CA truth:It's a completely different situation. The average salary of a town that size, in that area, for a few hours of work a week was $5,000. That's what is paid in neighboring places. $5,000.

Montgomery County MD is larger, more affluent, has much larger average income, and is busier. Our council works more than 25 hours a year. To be the same as Bell, we would have to pay the council 20x the average or about $2M each per year.

Can people really not control this? Used to live in Bethesda, live in DC now and we have something similar on our DC Water bills. My understanding is that you're taxed on the amount of impervious surface you have on your property. You want to pave over everything, then you'll pay more. More grass/agriculture, you'll pay less. Totally makes sense as the amount of runoff impacts infrastructure investments in the water system.

Nate - yes, you "can control this". Homeowners can replace solid concrete or asphalt with more porous pavements which allow rainwater to seep into the ground, and install facilities to manage water draining from roofs.

3:07: A new microloan bank they just approved. It enriches the Council because they intentionally make it difficult to do business, forcing businesspeople to come to them to work through the system. This creates a patronage system where some businesspeople become donors and supporters in exchange for the assistance.

Everything must flow through the Council, so that money can flow back TO them.

So while the microloans will do squat in helping us compete with Northern Virginia and D.C., they will create new patrons for those the Council handpicks to give YOUR money to as a "microloan."